WIPO Releases World Intellectual Property Indicators 2025: Global IP Filing Activity Continues to Grow

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has released World Intellectual Property Indicators 2025, which compiles statistics relating to global intellectual property filings, registrations, and maintenance in 2024. The report covers multiple areas of intellectual property activity, including patents, utility models, trademarks, industrial designs, plant varieties, and geographical indications.

The report shows that enterprises and innovators worldwide continue to place greater importance on protecting technology, brands, designs, and intangible assets. For enterprises, intellectual property is no longer limited to application documents but has become an important foundation for market strategy, technology protection, brand management, and international competitiveness.

Global IP Filing Activity Shows a Growth Trend

The WIPO report indicates that approximately 3.7 million patent applications were filed worldwide in 2024, representing an increase of 4.9% over the previous year and a relatively notable rate of growth in recent years. For trademarks, approximately 11.7 million applications were filed worldwide. Although the rate of growth was relatively moderate, trademark filing activity returned to positive growth following declines in the previous two years.

Industrial design filing activity also continued to grow, reflecting that, in addition to technology and brand protection, enterprises are increasingly incorporating product appearance, design identity, and market differentiation into their intellectual property strategies.

Asia Remains a Major Center of Global IP Activity

According to WIPO statistics, Asia continues to play an important role in global intellectual property activity. Taking patent filings as an example, IP offices in Asia received a substantial proportion of all applications filed worldwide, demonstrating that the Asian market remains an intellectual property battleground that global enterprises cannot ignore in technological innovation, manufacturing supply chains, brand management, and R&D strategy.

For Taiwanese enterprises, whether planning protection in Taiwan, China, Japan, South Korea, or Southeast Asia, or expanding further into markets in Europe and the United States, patents, trademarks, designs, and cross-border risk management should be incorporated into overall operational planning rather than addressed only after products enter the market or disputes arise.

Enterprises Should Move from Individual Filings to Comprehensive IP Management

The value of intellectual property rights lies not only in obtaining the rights themselves, but also in whether enterprises can establish comprehensive filing and maintenance strategies based on markets, technologies, product cycles, and competitive conditions. If enterprises make only isolated filings without regularly reviewing the status of their rights, filing jurisdictions, trademark classifications, patent scope, and subsequent maintenance schedules, they may still face risks when expanding into international markets.

AIPT Group notes that enterprises should incorporate intellectual property management into operational decision-making, including patent searches during the initial stages of product development, trademark searches before naming a brand, market risk assessments before product launch, selection of countries for overseas filings, and subsequent management of patent annuities, renewals, and rights maintenance.

Recommendations for Intellectual Property Strategy

As global intellectual property filing activity continues to grow, enterprises should establish more comprehensive intellectual property management systems at an early stage. Enterprises with needs relating to overseas sales, cross-border contract manufacturing, technology collaboration, licensing transactions, or brand expansion should pay particular attention to regularly reviewing whether their intellectual property assets are sufficient to support their international market strategies.

• Technology Protection: For core technologies, product improvements, and R&D results, assess whether patent searches, filing strategies, or adjustments to the scope of rights are required.
• Brand Protection: For company names, product names, brand logos, and names used in overseas markets, confirm whether trademark filings and classifications are comprehensive.
• Design Protection: If product appearance, packaging, interfaces, or forms possess market distinctiveness, design patent protection or other relevant forms of protection should also be evaluated.
• Overseas Strategy: Plan appropriate filing jurisdictions and filing schedules based on target markets, customer locations, manufacturing bases, trade show activities, and sales channels.
• Rights Maintenance: Establish systems for tracking patent annuities, trademark renewals, case deadlines, and rights status to prevent the loss of rights due to management oversights.

IP Strategy Should Develop in Step with Corporate Growth

As competition in global markets intensifies, intellectual property rights have become important tools for enterprises to increase technological barriers, protect brand value, reduce market risks, and strengthen their licensing negotiation capabilities. Establishing an intellectual property strategy during the early stages of product development, brand management, and overseas expansion can further help enterprises enhance the value of their intangible assets and their market competitiveness.

AIPT Group will continue to monitor the latest policies and statistical trends published by WIPO and intellectual property authorities in different jurisdictions. It will also assist enterprises with patents, trademarks, designs, cross-border filings, rights maintenance, and intellectual property risk management, helping clients address global market competition through a more comprehensive intellectual property protection framework.

Source: WIPO｜World Intellectual Property Indicators 2025